1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger airbag adapted to be stored inside an instrument panel located in front of a front passenger's seat of a vehicle. Particularly, the invention relates to a passenger airbag for rearward deployment from the instrument panel when fed with an inflation gas, the airbag including a bag body and a tether located inside the bag body for controlling the shape of the bag body as deployed.
2. Description of Related Art
JP 2008-254500 A discloses a known passenger airbag whose bag body is internally provided with a tether. The bag body takes such a shape at full inflation that a passenger side wall deployable at the rear end has a recessed area that is sunken forward generally entirely in an up and down direction at the center in a left and right direction. The tether is located inside the bag body in order to pull the front end of the recessed area of the passenger side wall forward at airbag deployment.
The tether helps prevent the front end of the recessed area from protruding toward a passenger unduly along with the deployment of the passenger side wall in an initial stage of airbag deployment.
Although this conventional passenger airbag is advantageous in preventing the passenger side wall from protruding toward a front passenger's seat in an initial stage of airbag deployment, it cannot help unfurling in a left and right direction unduly during inflation, which is likely to hinder a quick deployment of the airbag. Therefore, the conventional passenger airbag has room for improvement in restraining undue expansion in a left and right direction.